Silent Beauty
by Blueraingurl
Summary: Shounen ai implications. Sora realizes that he had been oblivious to Riku's pain and that he had been the cause of it.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kingdom Hearts or its characters.

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_A/N_: This is my first kingdom hearts story and I feel bad for Riku when he cares about Sora so much and yet Sora doesn't fully realize it, so here is this fic. The fic starts off with a dream sequence.

_Warning_: Implication of Sora/Riku. Occasional OCC and the plot may not be in accordance with the kingdom hearts story outline.

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**Title**: Silent Beauty

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_Dream:_

_"Wai, it hurts," sniffed a petite boy of seven. He had been running in the sand by himself and had tripped on some rocks. Blood caked his knees from the glass shards in the sand. _

_"I can't get up," Sora thought to himself, 'I'm going to get in trouble by mom.'_

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_Lost in his own self-pity, Sora didn't notice the silver-haired boy._

_Silently, the silver-haired boy reached his hands out to help pull Sora up._

_"Um, thank you," Sora spoke, "but I've never seen you around . . . did you just move here?"_

_The silver-haired boy nodded yes and was about to leave._

_"Don't go," Sora reached out to him, "I'm Sora . . . what's your name?"_

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_Icy green eyes stared at Sora. He slowly contemplated if he wanted to elaborate who he was but giving into the innocence of Sora's disposition, he answered, "I'm Riku."_

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_Riku turned away looking at the ocean, "where do you live? I'll help you walk home."_

_Sora led Riku toward his home. He looked at his companion and noticed his silence . . . 'did he do something wrong?'_

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_Quietly Sora sniffed and said "I'm sorry . . . are you mad?"_

_Quite surprised, Riku gently touched Sora's shoulder and nodded his head no._

_Without thought, Riku broke into a smile and lifted his injured friend into his arms and ran._

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Sora felt restless, he tossed and turned as he dreamt . . . he had been caught in a web of dreams . . . dreams about Riku these past weeks.

The heartless had been defeated and Riku had come back but something, something was off. His dreams didn't give him any peace. In his dreams, Riku was different . . . Riku was too silent.

Not able to fight off falling asleep again, Sora reached oblivion.

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_Dream Continued:_

_"Let's race Sora," Riku shouted out, "I'll even give you a head start."_

_"Okay," with momentum Sora ran with all his might. He ran toward their secret place, where he and Riku would hide from the world when they wanted to. _

_They were already fifteen years old, well he was fifteen and Riku was sixteen but he loved playing with his best friend. Riku always pushed him to become stronger . . . to try his best . . . because one day they would leave destiny island and search for another world together._

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_Sora saw blobs of green, brown, and colors from his surrounding . . . but before he could stop himself, he ran into a blob of someone._

_"AH!" a feminine voice cried out, "Ouch that hurts."_

_"I'm sorry," Sora blushed; he had toppled on top of this person. Brushing himself off, he got off of her._

_He looked down on the ground and helped her up._

_'Wow, she's pretty,' he thought to himself._ _Sora blushed hard at that thought._

_The girl noticed his shyness and then smiled, "it's okay, I didn't get too hurt."_

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_"I'm Sora . . . I've never seen you around, so where are you from?" Sora asked._

_"I don't know where I'm from . . . but somehow I'm here," she replied, "I really can't remember."_

_"Hey Sora," Riku jogged up to them, "I saw you crash into something, are you alright?"_

_"Hehe, it's actually someone," Sora replied impishly._

_"Oh," Riku noticed the faint blush on his friend's face. _

_"Well, let's go Sora," Riku tried to pull his best friend toward their destination._

_"Actually, I want to stay with . . ." Sora continued._

_"Kairi," the girl replied back, as she smiled at Sora._

_"You wanna stay? Fine," Riku turned to look at the girl, with a huge smile he said, "I'm Riku."_

_"Oh," the girl looked disinterested._

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_And slowly, Sora and Kairi became closer friends._

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Sweat accumulated on Sora's forehead as he slept . . . but he couldn't wake up. He had to wait until his dream ended, although he knew where the dream would take him next.

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_Dream Continued:_

_"Sora, let's head over to my place and play some games," Riku asked._

_"Sorry but I kinda of told Kairi that I'll go shopping with her," Sora replied back . . . "Would you like to go with us?"_

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_Riku silently followed his friend._

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_As they reached Kairi, he felt anger within him . . . 'Sora was his friend . . . Sora was special to him . . . but . . . ' Riku was confused, he didn't know why he felt what he did when Kairi would lightly place her hands on Sora and when Sora would smile._

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_"Hey there beautiful," Riku smiled sexily to Kairi, he wrapped his arms around her waist._

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_Sora watched with confusion, 'maybe that's why Riku had been moody lately, he must like Kairi. But didn't he say a few days ago that he hated Kairi?' _

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_The day had gone by quickly._

_"Sora, let's race and whoever wins will share a paopu fruit with Kairi," Riku challenged, "on one, two, three."_

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_And they were off._

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_By the time Sora reached the tree, Riku was standing there waiting for him._

_"I guess you won," Sora spoke out of breath._

_Gently, Riku offered Sora the fruit . . . "will you share one with me?"_

_"I don't understand Riku?" Sora asked._

_"Don't you want to share one with me?" with cold green eyes Riku stared at Sora._

_Sora was dumbfounded, he couldn't reply, "why would I do that with you? The legend says that if you share one together, you would be bound forever in . . . love."_

_Riku's demeanor became more standoffish as he replied; "I was just kidding kid."_

_He threw the fruit on the ground and left a baffled Sora._

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Sora felt himself cry in his dream. This was the part where Riku had become cold to him . . . the part of the dream where he lost his friend to the darkness.

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_Dream Continued:_

_As the days went by Riku had drifted from Sora but Sora didn't even notice because Kairi had occupied his days and thoughts._

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_Silently, Riku felt tormented as he watched his friend slip away from him. He felt lonely . . . Sora had been his first friend, he had meant so much to him but obviously Sora didn't feel the same way. 'Maybe the only thing he could do now was protect Sora from afar'._

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_Soon, darkness consumed Riku . . . just as much as light filled Sora._

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Sora awoke from his dream . . . he couldn't go on because he knew the next sequence of his dream. It would bring him back to when he had left destiny island and when Riku had gone over to the dark side . . . he cried for the first time because watching the past had revealed something to him.

It revealed what kind of a friend, or lack of friend he was to Riku.

He remembered the times when Riku had stood up for him, when Riku had protected him and when Riku had comforted him in times of insecurity.

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"Riku, I didn't know," Sora whispered to himself. All this time, he had unconciously neglected Riku for Kairi. Even in the end, he wasn't sensitive enough to Riku in his time of need. Sora knew that it wasn't his fault, but he couldn't refute the fact that they had drifted from each other as he got closer to Kairi.

Slowly Sora stood up from his bed. He didn't know why but he had to find Riku fast.

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Sora heard thunder in the background and began to walk faster . . . _'where could he find Riku?'_

He had to find him because in the end of his dream, Riku had always died. He was always too late because Riku had always died . . .

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For some reason, Sora had come to their hideout when they were younger . . . the place where Riku and him had spent hours, days and weeks in.

He entered their secret place but didn't find Riku.

Disheartened, Sora looked out the window and saw the vast ocean . . . he remembered when they had looked out this same window and wondered if there were other worlds to be found. He remembered Riku's passionate statement that he wanted to explore the world with him, Sora.

_'But in the end'_, Sora admitted, _'I didn't keep my promise to you, that we'll always have each other to lean on.'_

Once again, Sora looked at the turbulent skies and the roaring ocean. He saw a figure in the distance, _'can it be?'_

Without further thought, Sora ran out of their hiding place and ran toward the ocean.

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Before he got closer, he noticed the silent beauty that overcame his vision. The figure was wearing a dark cloak, while strands of silver cascaded out of the hood.

So many times in his dreams, Sora had seen Riku like this . . . he had seen Riku watching out for him, protecting him, caring about him, loving him from a distance while he himself left Riku out in the cold.

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With tentative steps, Sora walked closer to the figure.

"What do you want?" the figure whispered.

Sora placed his hand on his shoulder and replied, "I'm sorry."

Confusion replaced the cold green of Riku's eyes, "I don't understand."

"It's just that I've realized that I couldn't protect us in the end," Sora stated, "I couldn't protect you."

"But you did, you saved me Sora," Riku replied back.

"No, not that . . . I can't explain it," Sora continued, "But I wasn't there for you when you really needed it, I'm sorry Riku."

"I still don't understand," Riku whispered.

"You know, I've been having these dreams lately and they revolved around us. When we first met, when we became closer, when Kairi came into the picture, when I left you . . . and then, you were captured by the darkness . . . I was scared of the darkness. I was really scared, I didn't want to confront it and eventually I lost you and then you died in my dreams," Sora felt himself shake from the onslaught of his emotions.

"But I didn't want to lose you. I didn't realize how much you meant to me," Sora hesitated, "I didn't realize how selfish I must have been to forget about what you meant to me . . . I didn't realize that every time you died in my dreams that apart of me was dying too."

"Sora, thank you . . ." at lost for words; Riku drew Sora into his arms and held him in his embrace, "it's okay, we have forever now."

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_Yes, their relationship can start from here, together again._


End file.
